iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

#CfP: 'Making Things Meaningful in Early Modern Europe' Panel at Sixteenth Century Society Conference, 29-31 Oct 2026, Chicago. Abstracts by 10 April 2026 #Skystorians #EarlyModernEvents rensoc.org.uk/announcement...

Making Things Meaningful in Early Modern Europe (Panel)

Date: 29 October 2026 – 31 October 2026

Deadline: 10 April 2026

Location: Chicago

Sixteenth Century Society Conference

Panel Field: Bodies, Nature, Knowledge (formerly History of Science & Medicine)

The organisers are welcoming abstracts for 20-minute papers that explore the ways in which social interactions, encounters, and negotiations shaped the meaning and/or power of things in early modern Europe and beyond. In recent years, pathbreaking studies in the field of material culture studies has shown how the material qualities and affective properties of things and materials (including exotica, naturalia, and materia medica) played an active role in shaping how substances and objects were perceived, classified, used, manipulated, and invested with meaning by early modern contemporaries.

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

[#AnOxfordDiary] Ever wonder what a Good Friday procession felt like in Renaissance Italy? My article explore what people seemed to feel, hear and smell brill.com/edcollchap-o... @oxfordhistoryofart.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org @discoxford.bsky.social #arthistory #Renaissance #SensoryHistory

brill.com

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Rachel Willie @racheljwillie.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

👀 Over the last few months, I’ve been working with the terrific triumvirate @spparkle.bsky.social, @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social & Hannah Yip to set up “Sonance: A Journal of Early Modern Sound Studies”, a diamond open access journal dedicated to historic sounds in all their wondrous & eclectic forms.

Green-blue-grey blocky soundwaves on background. Centred in black serif lettering “Sonance”, with “journal of early modern sound studies” underneath.

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Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford @morethanadodo.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

We can all have a hand in creating a sustainable future. In our Future In Our Hands case we explore different species held in the hands of people who have different roles and connections to the natural world.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Wonderful news from Birkbeck's School of Historical Studies. We're hiring not one but TWO open-ended, full-time roles: Medieval Studies, and History of Art! cis7.bbk.ac.uk/home.html#fi...

cis7.bbk.ac.uk

Current Vacancies - Birkbeck, University of London

Birkbeck

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Architectural Walks. Really enjoyed getting to see one of Oxford’s only surviving medieval timber-framed buildings (that is not collegiate or related to the church). Thanks to Oxford Preservation Trust for the tour and for looking after this beautiful building. #architecture

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Over the years, I’ve become a strong advocate of offline breaks. These summer months have featured breathtaking views in Norway (our Scandinavian retreat), a quiet spell of writing perched on Cornwall’s cliffs progressing on my book, and the warmth of Italy.

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Relieved to have submitted my contribution just before going off grid...

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Bate Collection of Musical Instruments @batecollection.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

A Participatory Research Fund has been awarded to @batecollection.bsky.social, @torchoxford.bsky.social & @modernartoxford.bsky.social Led by @emanuelavai.bsky.social & Alex Coke, this collab with artist Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom blends historic instruments, student performances & video art for 2026!

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] What a gorgeous night @NationalGallery for the Festa della Repubblica, promoting Italian academic research, culture art & musical instruments surrounded by Caravaggio! @batecollection.bsky.social @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @oxhumanities.bsky.social

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Great to attend the re-opening of the Early Italy and Rome Gallery @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social !  Huge congratulations to our colleagues on an incredible new display — beautifully redesigned! @torchoxford.bsky.social @oxhumanities.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk Do visit!

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

[The Other Place] A really nice time at our sister college @stcatharines.bsky.social for 'The Future of Sound Studies: Remembering Bruce Smith'. Thanks to Jennifer Richards for organising and ‪@racheljwillie.bsky.social‬ for her incredible work with the 'Early Modern Soundscapes' network.

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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Book Talk – Humans: A Monstrous History with @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social. Nash Lecture Theatre, King's College London, April 28, 2025. www.rensoc.org.uk/event/book-t...

rensoc.org.uk

Book Talk – Humans: A Monstrous History with Dr. Surekha Davies – Society for Renaissance Studies

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

📢 Book presentation! Streamed live www.youtube.com/@urbanmusics. I wish I could be there in person in Barcelona! Huge thanks to @Tess Knighton and all the authors! @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social #digitalhumanities #arthistory #musichistory #ArchitecturalHistory

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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Delightful work post — the hard copy of the new issue of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, featuring my article, 'Migrant Voices in Multilingual London, 1560-1600'.

Cover of the current issue of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, sitting on a speckled windowsill.

The journal opened to the first page of my article in paper form.

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Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

On Mon March 31st I'm giving a book talk on HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, just out with @ucpress.bsky.social, in New Orleans! 6pm at Tulane University. @tulaneu.bsky.social 💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH 1/🧵 events.tulane.edu/content/publ...

Book open to title page, which reads: Humans: A Monstrous History / Surekha Davies / University of Caifornia Press. On facing page: Also by Surekha Davies / Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps and Monsters

Alt: Book on a book chair on the left open to the table of contents. On the right is a row of copies of HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, red spines with yellow and black lettering visible. Text on table of contents includes: Title-page and TOC. Chapters:
Introduction
1. On the Ecology of Monsters
2. Human or animal?
3. Race-nations I
4. Race-nations II
5. Gender, Sex, and Monstrous Births
6. Monstrous Performance and Display
7. Gods, Magic, and the Supernatural
8. Machines
9. Extraterrestrials
10. Monstrofuturism
Epilogue 4/6

Bright red book cover showing: an oval, silver-coloured mirror with a black frame comprised of sci-fi and fantasy monsters, with yellow lettering for the title, “HUMANS”, around the top of the mirror, in a stylized font with details that resemble whale-tails and bats’ wings. Subtitle just inside the mirror: A Monstrous History. Inside the bottom curve of the mirror: Surekha Davies. Along the left-hand edge of the cover crawls a xenomorph: a humanoid creature with an insect-like head and a long, sinuous, menacing, pointy tail.

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

[The Other Place] Architectural walks down memory lane, meeting old colleagues & friends, and trying out our sister college @stcatharines.bsky.social (courtesy of Worcester College, Oxford). Nice to be back at work in my favourite libraries @trincolllibcam.bsky.social @stjohnscollege.bsky.social

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Great to be part of this wonderful volume! My contribution introduces the concept of ‘sensoryscapes' in Early Modern Venetian Bergamo (with DH components and GIS mapping) @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @torchoxford.bsky.social brill.com/edcollchap-o...

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Architectural walks at night - The Sheldonian Theatre showing off, as usual... @ox.ac.uk

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Alex Burchmore @alexburchmore.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Author copies of Material Selves have just arrived and they look so good!😍 You can pick up a copy of your own now at www.bloomsbury.com/au/material-... Or, alternatively, at one of the stockists listed on my website: alexburchmore.com/material-sel... Keep reading for more info on what's inside 👇🏽🧵

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] It has been a pleasure to meet such engaged and participative students and teach on material culture, musical instruments and museums - I look forward to expanding the provision on Renaissance Art, Architecture and Music with DH @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @torchoxford.bsky.social

Melchior Lorch, A kettledrum player riding a camel, woodcut on paper (ca. 1576), from a series of 127 woodcuts, © Trustees of the British Museum

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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Conference: The Future of Sound Studies: Remembering Bruce R. Smith 24 May in Cambridge deadline for registration 17 May -- attendance is free all info: www.rensoc.org.uk/event/the-fu...

The Future of Sound Studies: Remembering Bruce R. Smith
GR06/07, English Faculty, West Road, Cambridge, May 24, 2025 - May 24, 2025
Deadline for submission/application: May 17, 2025

Photo of Bruce SmithSound studies, sensory approaches and phenomenology are now so established in the contemporary practice of Shakespeare and early modern studies that it is hard to imagine the discipline without them. But for the pioneering work of Professor Bruce R. Smith (1946-2024) over the past three decades and more, our field would be far narrower, and its future less bright. Through his scholarship in books including The Acoustic World of Early Modern England (1999), The Key of Green (2009), and Phenomenal Shakespeare (2009), and through his tireless championing of colleagues and scholars at all career stages, Bruce was at the heart of a vibrant critical conversation that will continue for years to come. This day is a celebration of Bruce R. Smith’s contribution to sound studies and his generosity to the scholarly community, and an opportunity to reflect on future directions his work has made possible. Speakers will include Oskar Cox-Jensen (Newcastle), Katherine Hunt (UEA), Sophie Read (Cambridge), Jennifer Richards (Cambridge), Olivia Smith (Cambridge), Simon Smith (Shakespeare Institute), Tiffany Stern (Shakespeare Institute), Rachel Willie (Liverpool John Moores) and Richard Wistreich (Royal College of Music). Colleagues at all stages of career – and postgraduates especially – are invited to join us, sharing reflections on how Bruce’s research has shaped their work, and the future of sound studies.

This event is a collaboration between the Shakespeare Institute and the Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia, Newcastle, and the Soundscapes in the Early Modern World network. We are delighted that Bruce’s husband, Gordon Davies, will join us.

Thanks to a Judith E Wilson Small Grant Award, attendance is free. We do need to know numbers, though, so if you would like to join us…

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Architectural walks - Just a totally normal Saturday at @magdalenoxford.bsky.social (Founder's Tower)

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] 📢 Join us on Tuesday 18th February: Digital Humanities & Sensory Heritage @torchoxford.bsky.social with Prof. Giovanna Ceserani (Stanford) 'Digital History:18th-Century Journeys to Italy' @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social www.torch.ox.ac.uk/digital-huma...

torch.ox.ac.uk

Digital History and 18th-Century Journeys to Italy

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

torch.ox.ac.uk

Digital History and 18th-Century Journeys to Italy

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Delighted to have my work published. "The ‘Sensoryscape’ of the Good Friday Procession"delves into the sensory dimensions of the early modern world, highlighting the complex interplay between material environments, objects, and human perception. brill.com/edcollchap/b...

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Digital Scholarship at Oxford @discoxford.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Towards Digital Collections: Free workshops to introduce training materials to support those in the GLAM sector getting started or continuing their Digital Collections journey. On site in Cardiff, Sheffield, Belfast & Stirling or online end of March 2025. bit.ly/TaNC_Training

bit.ly

Welcome to Towards Digital Collections: Towards Digital Collections - Resources for Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

[#AnOxfordDiary] Our off-grid break has come to an end, but the peacefulness is still in my mind and eyes (and trying to make it last as long as possible...)

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Emanuela Vai @emanuelavai.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Hyvää Uutta Vuotta Wishing all a good beginning

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